Sugar Cookies and Snowball Fights
by Arashi of the Red Scarf
Summary: Cloud is a grinch. Aerith intends to snap him out of it. Warning: is somewhat cheesy. I don't own Final Fantasy, so they might be a bit OOC.


There is a certain kind of magic in the air this time of year. Colored lights, tasty food, friendship, and a sense of goodwill towards everyone. Who doesn't love Christmas?

...Apparently, Cloud Strife.

On the day our story's set, Mr. Strife was wandering through the village, looking as cheery as a porcupine and just as bristly. Snow was falling in big, soft flakes, yet he didn't seem to appreciate the beauty at all. To him, it was just a nuisance that clogged up the roads and turned to icy melting slush. Cloud watched a group of rosy-faced munchkins dash by and realized he didn't even remember liking the stuff as a child. When it snowed, he'd stay indoors and grouch.

"Merry Christmas!" called a shopkeeper as Cloud walked by. The man had just completed putting lights up for the entire row of shops, and as Cloud walked by with barely a glance, he plugged them in. It was quite a sight to see. Cloud, however, remained blind to it, and continued trudging down the street. He was stopped, however, by a snowball hitting him squarely in the back of the head. He grunted and turned angrily, only to find Aerith standing behind him, waving merrily.

"Hello Cloud! Merry Christmas!" she called, sweetly oblivious to the glare on his face. By the look of it, she'd just come out of one of the shops- her arms were laden with packages, all neatly tied up with string. Some of them looked quite heavy, and Cloud's first instinct was to take some of them and carry them home for her. Then a bit of ice slithered off his blonde spikes and dripped down his back, and he folded his empty arms resignedly.

"Hi, Aerith." He did not, would not, say Merry Christmas. And she noticed.

"Aw, Cloud, what's wrong? Did I throw it too hard?" She caught up, almost dropping a particularly large box marked 'Flour'. Cloud caught it and was about to hand it back, but took pity on her and hefted it to his shoulder.

"No, not that. Good grief, Aerith, you must have enough flour in here to make a million loaves of bread. What are you planning on doing, feeding the whole town?" 

"No, silly. Making Christmas cookies." She grinned, but sensed his annoyance. "Want to help me? It would get you in out of the cold, anyway. I know you don't really like snow."

"Er..." Well, it wasn't like he'd had anywhere to actually go. "Yeah, sure, I guess." He followed Aerith home. Her house was lit up as prettily as any in the village, and had the look of an old-fashioned Christmas card. Not that it mattered. Cloud didn't notice at all, just waited for her to open the door and stepped inside moodily, shaking snow off his shoulders. Aerith flicked the lights on, revealing a cozy little living room, full to the brim with holiday cheer. There was even mistletoe hanging in the corner, although from the looks of it she'd only put it up for tradition's sake. Cloud ignored it all and set the flour down on the kitchen table.

Aerith, meanwhile, had been pulling bowls out, sorting ingredients, preheating the oven, the like. She handed him a measuring cup and a large bowl.

"Please measure out two cups of the flour." He did so, and they worked in companionable silence for a while. As Aerith popped the first batch into the oven, she glanced over at Cloud. He didn't look happy, and she poured a cup of hot cocoa and set it in front of him. Sipping her own, she sat opposite him. "All right, what's wrong? Even you're usually more talkative than this."

"It's not really anything." He poked a mini-marshmallow with a spoon, and she raised an eyebrow.

"You're not drinking." Cloud rolled his eyes and took an exaggeratedly large gulp of cocoa, spluttering as a marshmallow got caught in his throat. Aerith continued to stare at him questioningly, and he at last gave in.

"It's just...Christmas. I don't like it. Snow, lights, laughing children...snow..." He took another drink of cocoa and promptly started spluttering again as Aerith laughed softly. "What? It's not funny."

"Oh, Cloud, of course not. But to think...what's wrong with Christmas? It's about happiness!" She smiled at him, and he looked away and grouchily attempted to take a drink of cocoa without choking on it.

"It's just...bad things always seem to happen to me on Christmas."

"What sort of bad things?"

"Like...last year...when the tree fell over...and the year before that, when I was sick..." Aerith looked at him compassionately, but there was still a hint of good-natured laughter in her eyes.

"Of course bad things happen on Christmas. They happen to everyone, all the time. Life isn't about not having bad things happen to you. Life is about overlooking bad things, and only seeing the good things." The timer on the oven dinged and she got up. "Even if the good things are just little things, like sugar cookies." She pulled the tray out and set it out to cool. "If I only look at the fact that I spilled the sugar and burnt my hand, then it was a very bad day. But I can look at the delicious cookies and then suddenly it doesn't seem so bad, after all." She nibbled a cookie and smiled.

"Well...I don't know." Cloud drank the last of his cocoa, unconvinced.

"Think about it! What bad things have happened to you today?"

"Well. It snowed." Aerith smiled.

"Besides that."

"You hit me with a snowball"

"I apologized for that already."

"I...well, I...I stubbed my toe when I got out of bed this morning."

"Well, that doesn't make Christmas a bad thing. Maybe you'll stub your toe in three weeks, and it'll just be a random day. Maybe you won't even notice or remember. Besides that."

"Er..." Cloud stopped to think. He couldn't actually remember anything bad that had happened to him, really. Just the snow. "I...I guess it's not really been that bad..." Aerith beamed.

"Exactly! Now have a cookie, Mr. Grinch, and cheer up." Cloud took a cookie and smiled at her.

"I still refuse to like snow." Aerith laughed and tapped him on the head with her spoon.

"Fair enough. Now let's get to work making more good things."

And so passed another Christmas Eve, warm, happy, and full of sugar. Everyone in the village got cookies, and everyone was happy, even a certain blonde, who accepted the offer from Aerith to join her in a snowball fight but was beaten soundly and regretted it wholeheartedly afterwards. But that's what the holiday season is all about. Merry Christmas!


End file.
